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Years before Katie Couric helped us rise and shine on the Today show, she was a lowly intern at a radio station in Arlington, Va. It was there, interning for legendary radio personality Carl Kasell, that Couric caught the broadcasting bug. She quickly abandoned radio for TV and she never looked back. Until now.

All Pat Adams wanted for her 87th birthday was the chance to meet George Clooney. Well, dreams come true: Clooney surprised her at her assisted living facility after the staff wrote to the star to inform him of Pat’s birthday wish.

In 1939, on the eve of World War II, Marta Broido, 27, did her part to help 650 Jews escape Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia.

Last week, she celebrated her 105th birthday at Sunrise Senior Living in Thousand Oaks.

Broido was born Marta Steiner on March 6, 1912, in central Europe. She grew up in Czechoslovakia and enjoyed a comfortable childhood in an atmosphere of knowledge and culture. Her father was a professor of language in Prague, the country’s capital.

On a Wednesday afternoon at Sunrise Senior Living on Belfort Road, residents gathered in the facility’s event space to watch the dining services coordinator compete against the maintenance coordinator in a cooking challenge.

The event was the first of its kind for the Southside senior living facility and mimicked the Food Network television show “Chopped,” where chefs turn baskets of mystery ingredients into a three-course meal.

When seniors engage with other generations – magic happens. I’ve spent my career promoting the benefits of intergenerational activities and experiencing the outcomes first-hand. I was personally called to my profession because my grandfather lived with my family when I was a young child. My special relationship with my grandfather and observing many of his day-to-day caregiving needs motivated me to pursue nursing as a career.

When Dan Babb, of Cascade, was born, Woodrow Wilson was president and “Pretty Baby” was the No. 1 hit.

But, despite a century of living, according to Babb, there is nothing special nor remarkable about his life.

“I just happened to get up every morning for the last 100 years,” he said.

Staff and friends at Sunrise of Cascade, where he lives, disagree.

“He is such a wonderful and humble man,” said Debra Rost, executive director of the retirement village. “And we have been here for just over 10 years and he is the first resident we have ever had that celebrated a 100th birthday.”

BUCKHEAD – Residents at a Buckhead retirement home are finding new joy in an old dog.

The poodle, named Toodles, got a forever home for the holidays at the Sunrise at Buckhead retirement Complex.

But residents said they’re the ones who got the real gift.

“He’s the sweetest, nicest dog,” said resident Stacy Haugen, who now sleeps with the dog nightly.

Haugen said “most of the people who live here have had their own dogs, and maybe couldn’t keep him or give them to other family members. It’s wonderful that they can pet him and talk to him, and he’s a very good listener.”